Wooden grips on a .44?

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Nightcrawler

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I just picked my my 3" Model 29 today. The Pachy grips that come with it are too bulky for carry, so I've ordered a set of Pachy "Compac" grips.

But...what about something like Eagle Secret Service grips? They'd look nicer and would be slimmer still, but...

Doesn't having an exposed steel backstrap on a .44 make it uncomfortable to shoot? Anyone use those kind of wood grips on their .44 Magnums? What kind do you prefer?
 
If you're shooting .44 Magnums, not .44 Special with Eagle Secret Service grips you are one tough hombre. The only wood grips I've found tolerable with a short barrel .44 mag. (3-4") is Herretts "Jorden Trooper". These cover the backstrap. Best of luck. Forgot to mention- a lot of guys are using the stock S&W grips that come on the "X" frame revolvers. These are neoprene/"rubber". They are pretty bulky too.
 
I shoot .44MAG with Ahrends wood grips.

I'm not exactly a "tough hombre" and it isn't as bad as I thought it would be.
The normal 240 grain Magtech stuff I shoot is not a big deal with the 4" 29-2, and I've shot the same load, same grips in a 29 Mountain Gun, and had really pleasant results.
Good grip, and big hands is helpful. My carry choice is the ahrends wood finger groove grips with open backstrap. It's far mory concealable than any of the rubber grips I've tried.
Admittedly, I use Pachys Compac when I'm going to shoot high volume in one day, and can't find specials cheap. (.44MAG is cheaper by far than Special around here.)
Enjoy.
Steve
 
Hey, I shoot 260gr +P .44 mag with wood grips.

Bisley grips on a 7-1/2" SBH Hunter, and it still smarts! :D

Not really "hurt", but you know you shot something.

My 4" Taurus 44SS4 wears Pachmayrs. They work much better than the stock grips, which look exactly the same. The Pachys are made of much better material (sorbothane?).

-- Sam
 
all my 44 mags have factory wood grips on them, yea they do hurt with full power loads, what about some stags, with alot of bark?:D csa
 
I just love the looks of wood grips on such things as the classic S&W Model 29, but I don't love how they feel while I'm shooting them with my city-boy hands. It's like I've rubbed my palms over a cheese grater. I think I would prefer the smooth wood grip of a Ruger Redhawk, but I've never shot one.
 
44 specials are tolerable with the exposed backstrap. 44 mags are pure torture!!
Get some rubber.
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I've got a 4" 29-2. The ONLY comfortable way to shoot that gun with 240gr. Winchester White Box is out of a Ransom Rest. Even with Pachmayr Signatures, it's absolutely brutal.

I had to shoot about a box and a half of that stuff through my gun to test some repairs to the forcing cone. With S&W target grips, it was like having Mike Tyson swing a pool cue like a baseball bat at your hand. With the Signatures, it's only as though he stomped on your hand with cowboy boots.

With any reasonable .44 Special load, I can comfortably shoot the gun with Magnas, or even Service grips off of an M1917.
 
When the big, sharply checkered wood grips first came out, somebody.....I think it was Col. Charles Askins while test firing that model......advised that wearing thin leather gloves was a big help to keep them from shaving off bits of flesh from the palm.

Elmer Keith commented that he'd heard that some of the boys were wearing gloves to shoot the big .44 and he speculated that maybe they also wore lace on their panties.

That caused a bit of a stir.

Those old-time gun writers were the best.
 
I used to own a 4" 29-2. I put on a set of imitation ivory service/magna grips (square butt), and went out and shot it. Probably put a couple hundred rounds through it.

It was uncomfortable, but I'd never shot a .44 mag before, didn't know one type of grip from another, and wasn't it supposed to kick anyway?

It kicked, but it was no big deal, and I'm no tough guy either. It was much more pleasurable than shooting my father's M91 Mosin lying down on the ground with no rest--now THAT is punishment.

I think the anticipation and build-up of the recoil from the "mighty" 44 mag is much worse than the actual recoil itself.

Wooden target grips, finger groove or otherwise are very comfortable to use.

Go shoot the thing and see what you like for yourself--you may be surprised.
 
I have no problem shooting my 29-10's, or 29-3 LH with older S&W combat grips. When shooting 44 mags I always wear a shooting glove.Don't care if folks think i'm a sissy when I have a 44 mag in my hand.;)
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I think I would prefer the smooth wood grip of a Ruger Redhawk, but I've never shot one.
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No, you wouldn't prefer it, I think.

I own two redhawks and let me be the first to tell you that the stock "cowboyish" grip of the redhawk is a real pain in the keister. It may work with an SAA style gun where the grip can roll in your hand, but it don't work well at all with a DA revolver. That energy has to go somewhere, and what ends up happening with that particular grip design is the trigger guard comes straight back and mashes the heck out of your middle knuckle. Ouch!:what:

One of my redhawks, a 5.5" model, wears Hogue hardwood monogrips. The backstrap is exposed, but because the grip pushes my hand downward away from the trigger guard I don't get the knuckle mash I mentioned before.

My other redhawk, a 4" model, wears the new style grip Ruger is offering, a Hogue rubberized monogrip. It somehow is a much smaller grip than my hardwood grip; both slimmer and shorter, even though the gun's grip frame is the same size. I can actually conceal this redhawk if I need or want to do so... the other one is a bit to big in the barrel and grip to do so at this point.

Shooting either of them is a treat though. Give 'em a nice firm handshake, then squeeze, and the bullet goes right where it is supposed to.

Never worn a shooting glove for my .44's, and I've never been one to need any kind of sissified checkering to hold onto my gun. Take that, Elmer. (Of course he could outshoot me any 8 days a week;))
 
Elmer Keith commented that he'd heard that some of the boys were wearing gloves to shoot the big .44 and he speculated that maybe they also wore lace on their panties.

That caused a bit of a stir.

Those old-time gun writers were the best.
Click to expand...

Yeah, they were entertaining. Full of it, but entertaining.
 
Actually, one of the secrets to Elmer's success was custom-made grips designed to fit his own hand. They filled the palm area and prevented the gun from slapping him.

Well, that, and many decades of big-bore shooting experience. :D

Anyway, I modified my gun a little bit. The gun itself is a new S&W model 29-10 "Bounty Hunter" in .44 Magnum. Matte blue finish, 3" full underlug barrel, fluted cylinder, no porting.

The gun was reduced in price I think because of cosmetic blemishes, scratches on the barrel, underlug, and cylinder. No sign of it ever having been fired; I think it just got dinged up in transit or in handling. No skin off my butt, though, as those flaws don't affect function and probably saved me a hundred dollars.

The Pachy Decellerator grip it came with was ate up, too. If properly tightened so as not to wobble, the screw stuck WAY out of the left grip, and no amount of my dickering could seem to aleviate it. I swapped it for a Hogue Monogrip I had laying in a drawer until my Pachy Compac arrives.

I popped the sideplate off to have a look at the internals; holy HELL was it tight! I actually broke a cheap plastic ratcheting screwdriver trying to pry the plate off, and had to use the handle like a plastic mallet to pound it back in. I've never seen a sideplate so tight before!

The next thing I did was change the rear sight. This IS going to be a carry/car gun for me, so I wanted simpler sights. I removed the standard adjustable rear and replaced it with a Cylinder & Slide fixed rear I've had sitting in a drawer since 2005.

Now, the two-white-dot rear sight didn't mesh well with an orange ramp front sight, so I took a black Sharpie and colored the white dots in, giving a very clean sight picture. I'm interested to see which loads will shoot to point of aim with this sight.

I know this beast is going to be a handful, but I prefer shooting mild .44s mainly anyway. A 240 grain slug from 1,000 to 1,200 feet per second is where it's at for me. I'm interested to learn how this gun handles the 240 grain Hydra-Shoks I use as carry/SD ammo (which are loaded pretty mildly). If it's too bad I'll switch to the Cor-Bon 165 grain load; that light of a bullet should reduce recoil considerably.

For apartment defense, I'm going to track down some Glaser Safety Slugs. I've got thin walls here.

All in all, though? I scored, I think. I love the way the gun handles and I can't wait to break it in! :D
 
Quote:
I think I would prefer the smooth wood grip of a Ruger Redhawk, but I've never shot one.

No, you wouldn't prefer it, I think
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.

Thanks for the heads up, az. I think I'll just stick with a good single action for my next .44 Mag.
 
I've shot factory target grips on several 29's for many years. Some checkered, and some smooth. Biggest problem I had was the shape of the grips, and the fit of the grips to the frame. On earlier guns, the transition of the metal to the wood flowed very smoothly and cleanly, with the rounded profile of the frame continuing into the grips, and had nicely rounded contours as the grip continued around its circumference.

The later guns, and they've become worse (some are fit to be firewood)as time goes on, have edges of frames hanging out exposed, squared contours of the grips, on the rear edges and the front inside edges. I've reshaped and refinished several factory grips, except those from the early 70's and before. Handle a really nice Smith from the 50's and you'll see why. Other than the medalions sticking out too far (fairly common), the later grips can be dramatically improved.

Clothing tends to cling somewhat to rubber grips. That can be embarrasing if you are trying to conceal. It can also be a plain nuisance if your clothes or coat dont move easily off your gun when wanting to lay hold of it in a hurry.

Nightcrawler, to remove your sideplate, use the handle of a regular screwdriver, or your plastic mallet, and hit down on the side of the grip frame, (with the side plate up), it will seemingly magically pop the sideplate off without making pry marks on the plate or surrounding parts.
 
Over three decades ago, I shot three 'hot' .44 Magnums from a 'friend's' 29 - with those lacquered target grips. The blister in my palm developed - and split - quickly, and left a tear in my web... three rounds were enough - I went back to semi-auto's - and didn't touch a .44 for a quarter century - until I bought a 629MG 11/02. I 'discovered' the .44 Special and Ahrends square conversion fg cocobolo stocks - great combo, with that 629MG. I bought a used Ahrends rounded non-fg cocobolo stock set, like those fitted on a 329PD, for a song, and tried them on the 629MG. What a great grab - far faster than fg's, wood or rubber.

I tried my 'ultimate', a wimpy .44M; a 300gr LSWC @ 880 fps - quite do-able. I tried 240gr MagTech & White Box - OUCH! Then... 180gr UMC - WHY DID I DO THIS? Substitute the new X-frame grip, $35 from S&W Accessories - wow! They all became shootable. I bought a new 6" 629 just to use that rubber grip - and to be a 'real' .44 Magnum. Besides, lace feels kinda nice - there!

Seriously, if you stay out of 'real' .44M territory, those smallish Ahrends rounded non-fg grips are fine - try out a new 329PD for 'fit'. They are a 'fast' grab - no fg fidgetting.

Stainz
 
Nightcrawler-am another very satisfied owner of a Bounty Hunter. Special matte black finish (non-reflective) is very easy to keep clean. The pistol is tightly fitted and very accurate. Took a set of Ahrends rb compacts (no finger grooves) from a M21, and removed the sickly orange finish, while rounding over the sharp edges by the trigger guard and the upper cuts. Simply rounding off the sharp edges made a significant difference with the warmer (not full bore) loads.

Malumute makes an excellent point about the "fit" of grips.
 
My 3" M29 came with Ahrends goncalo alves combat grips, (I think that is what is shown on Stoney's examples). I removed the factory lacquer and smooth them out with wood wax. They are handfilling and very comfortable with full house loads.

If I were to replace them I would probably try a Hogue exotic wood Monogrip, which look to be shaped similar to the Ahrends combat grips.

I have never like rubber or neoprene grips as they are never wide enough for me and tend to bite the web of my hand. And they are also aesthetically unappealing to me.
 
I think I would prefer the smooth wood grip of a Ruger Redhawk, but I've never shot one.
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I guess I'm the odd-ball here because I tried a Hogue rubber monogrip and a Pachmayr Decelerator grip and now I'm back to using the stock Ruger wood grip on my Redhawk.
My issue with the Hogue was that it gripped so well it would rub a blister next to my thumb and the grip never felt right to me. The Pachy grip seemed too "sticky". I just let the shot kind of roll with the smooth wood grip and surprisingly it works for me.
The only issue I have with the wood grip is I wish it was a little bigger, I don't have small hands. I've seen pics of a metal add-on that attaches to the front strap, anyone know what these are? It would make the wood grip a little bigger, that's what I want. I can't find them anywhere on the web.

--meathammer
 
I think I would prefer the smooth wood grip of a Ruger Redhawk, but I've never shot one.

No, you wouldn't prefer it, I think

Thanks for the heads up, az. I think I'll just stick with a good single action for my next .44 Mag.
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I disagree. I love the smooth grips of the Redhawk. I think shooting my Redhawk .44 Mag with full loads is not bad at all and I don't like heavy recoil. It rolls up real good with those factory grips and that tames some of the recoil. The Redhawks are great guns.

That said, I would not try to talk you out of a good single action. I just don't think there is that big of a difference. I used to own a Blackhawk in .45 Colt and it recoiled pretty dang good its self with "Ruger Only" loads. Should have kept that gun. I was too impatient those days for a single action. I wanted to load quick and keep shooting. I'm slowing down as I grow older.
 
My Red Hawk

has rubber after market grips, my Vaquero has the stock wooden ones. No difference to my hands.
Good luck.
 
meathammer -- I've seen pics of a metal add-on that attaches to the front strap, anyone know what these are? It would make the wood grip a little bigger, that's what I want. I can't find them anywhere on the web.
Click to expand...
I believe that you are speaking of a Tyler T-Grip. They are available from the manufacturer. Pachmayr made a similar product in the past, but to the best of my knowledge no longer does.
 
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